It Started With An Audition
by ArtemisPhantom
Summary: The McFLY story from the beginning, with generous amounts of humour. Rated for language. Slashy fluff in later chapters, DannyXDougie. My first chaptered ficcie! Now complete :D
1. It Started With

**It Started With An Audition...**

Weeeellll this is my first crack at a chaptered ficcie.  
Little bit nervous about how it's gonna be received, but it's not much different from my other fics, so I hope you guys like it!

It's got a bit of humour in it, and it's rated T 'cause of the language use. It has slashy fluffy goodness, but in later chapters.

In this chapter: The 'Dwarf' that's referred to is one of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney movie.

**DISCLAIMER: No I don't own McFLY (hell I wish I did), Bruce Springsteen, Blink-182, or the Dwarf. The only thing that's mine is the idea for this fic.**

**Chapter 1- Making the Band**

I knew I was out of my element as soon as I walked into the waiting room for the auditions. The first thing I noticed was that I was the ONLY person who had a guitar. The second thing I noticed (on closer inspection) was that all the other people waiting to be auditioned seemed to be wearing tight tops and legwarmers. They wouldn't look out of place at a 'Fame' audition for the West End. This all seemed a bit wrong to me. I was SURE the newspaper said 'auditions for a boy band', but by now I had just started to doubt my memory. Crappy T.V, I knew I shouldn't have watched it so much. While I was lost in my own thoughts however, I hadn't seen the George Michael look-alike flounce over.

"Hiyaa!" he squeaked, as he plopped himself into a cheap plastic seat next to mine. I was surprised he didn't just slide off, the amount of Lycra he was wearing.

I tried my hardest to ignore him, but he waved a hand in my face, eager to get my attention. "Hi." I murmured back.

"Is that your prop?" he asked, shuffling a bit closer to me. Too close.

I shuffled further away from him. "What?"

"Is that your prop? You know, are you going to dance with it?" He then stood up and grabbed my guitar. Holding it by the neck in his left hand which was raised up high, he pirouetted and sank into a cross-legged position on the floor. He stood up and bowed, soaking in the applause from the surrounding gays. "Like that?" he asked as he sat back on the slidy plastic.

I managed to seize the guitar back, and when I did I played a few chords to check it was still in tune. "No, it's not a prop. I'm playing it in the audition." Thankfully, my name was then called to go into the audition room. I jumped out of my seat as quickly as humanely possible, and just as I was closing the door, I heard a familiar squeaky voice.

"Good luck!" the voice screeched, and I couldn't help but smile as the door shut behind me.

The utter enormity of what I was doing smacked me in the face as soon as I wheeled round and found myself face to face with three men sat along a table. Well, two men and a boy about my age. The first man was obviously gay. He was bald, and was wearing a pink shirt that had its buttons undone to about halfway. The middle boy was Tom. This was the first time I saw him, and to be totally honest he looked as out of place as I did. His short blond hair was spiked up, and he was wearing a collared black top with the first button undone. I could tell he played guitar by the way he looked at mine, and how his fingers twitched with the ache of wanting to play. The last man at the table looked like the twin of the first, except with a blue shirt. And was that eyeliner he was wearing?

"Ahem." Man 1 coughed, distracting me from Man 2's apparent love of make-up. I got the distinct impression that he was a bit irritable after auditioning the many George Michael look-alikes. "Full name please?"

"Daniel Alan David Jones. But I prefer to be called Danny" I answered. Very politely too, I thought.

"Date of birth and current age?" he asked, with no acknowledgement of my first answer.

"12th of March, 1986. And I'm 16."

It was Man 2's turn to talk. "So, Danny. What are you going to sing for us today?" he said, being much friendlier than Man 1.

"Well if you don't mind, I was gonna sing 'Born to Run' by Springsteen and play guitar with it too." I made eye-contact with Tom, but he said nothing.

"That sounds fabulous Danny. Whenever you're ready." Man 2 replied, with a smile plastered on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes.

As I sang and strummed the worn guitar to my favourite song of all time, Tom leaned forward on the table and rested his elbows on the surface. His head sat on closed fists, and he maintained eye contact with me throughout the whole song. In fact, I don't remember seeing him blink once. As soon as I had finished, silence reigned. Man 1 was the first to speak.

"Well, it was… nice… but it's not really what we're looking for." He said, with a sickly sympathetic smile.

Man 2 nodded in agreement and said "I'm sure you could find somewhere that your handy guitar skills would come in useful."

I looked at Tom, who still was saying nothing. He gave a small nod and looked down; finally breaking the eye contact he'd held for so long. "Well, thanks" I muttered under my breath and made my way to the door. As soon as I had grabbed the handle-

"Danny?"

-I heard it from directly behind me. I spun round, almost dropping my guitar and coming face to face with Tom. He stuck out his right hand, as if to shake mine with it. I couldn't help but notice he was grinning insanely, and I also noticed the dimple in his cheek that appeared when he smiled. I eventually put my hand in his, and he gripped it hard, shaking it with determination. Imagine my shock, when at last he said the words I've been waiting to hear all my life.

"Welcome to the band Danny, our band."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Which brings me to now. So far, Tom and I have spent two weeks in this crappy hotel room on the third floor. Before, we were staying in his parents' house, but then his mum got sick of us and our 'dirty boyish habits'. Living by ourselves is weird, and I swear to god it's making us both go crazy already. I say this, because I've just caught Tom trying to smuggle my hair straighteners into the bathroom. "Tom, what the hell are you doing with that cuddly toy and my hair straighteners?"

Tom whirled round, and plastered a look of innocence across his face "uh, nothing in particular…" and he slowly tried to edge past the bathroom door.

I stood in front of said door and snatched the offending cuddly toy out of his grip. "Now, Tom. If you co-operate, no harm will come to… Happy." I warned, reading the label on the side of the Dwarf. "So, tell me what you are doing." It was a statement, not a question.

"DANNY! You put Happy down right now; he didn't do anything to you!" I shot him another glare, and held Happy out of the window. Needless to say, he gave in shortly after that. "Okay, fine. I was… I was just going to straighten his beard a little bit."

I couldn't help myself. I started laughing so hard that I almost let go of Happy, and the look of shock on Tom's face just offset another wave of hysteric laughter from me. "What the fuck, Tom?" But then I decided to just let him have his fun. I handed the Dwarf back, and I tried not to laugh as he tucked it protectively under his arm.

As he walked away, I couldn't help overhearing Tom's conversation with his beloved Happy "I know, I know. But it's okay now, because you're going to get a makeover!"

I had to grab a pillow off the bed and stuff the corner in my mouth so that Tom wouldn't hear me laugh again. This was going to be a long couple of months.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Okay, we've been living in this absolute shithole of a room now for… just over a month writing songs. Some of which I'm not yet happy with, but my favourite so far has been one called Room on the Third Floor which is (surprisingly enough) based on this room. It's now that Tom's decided we need more people for the band, and pronto. Why he's made this decision RIGHT NOW is beyond me. He probably wants fresh meat. BUT, the upside is if we find some newbies quickly we can move out of this room and get a house!

Oh yeah, did I mention that the auditions are today?

"DANNY!! DANNY, WHERE'S MY LOOFAH?"

I thought a loofah would be the least of Tom's worries, seeing as we're already at least half an hour late, but no. I feel like strangling him sometimes, really. "Tom, listen. I don't know where the fuck your loofah is. Have you checked up your arse? You tend to lose stuff there quite often."

Tom looked thoroughly offended at my comment. I thought it was fair though, it's only a piece of dead sea creature for god's sake. "Danny?! I'm shocked. I would NOT use a loofah for self-gratification purposes. THAT is what Ann Summers is for." And with that, he strutted into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

After the shower had been running for around a minute or so, I decided to have a rummage through Tom's stuff. Don't ask why, because I know you would do the same in the situation. I stuck my head under his bed, and began to run my hand around the area. After only five minutes I had pulled out 4 porno mags, a pair of boxers, some family photos (LOL) and some practice autographs (DOUBLE LOL!). When I put my hand in the corner though, my fingers scraped something… furry. "SHIT!" I shouted, snatched my hand out from under the bed, and hit my head on the way up. I braved putting my hand back under, and the furriness wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was something rough and cylindrical, and a bit damp. I pulled the string attached to it, and lifted it out from the depths. It was bitten almost to pieces and covered in green mould. "Uh, Tom?" I said to the closed bathroom door.

Said door opened and Tom emerged in a cloud of steam, swathed in a yellowing towel. "Yeah mate, what is it?"

"…I think I found your loofah."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Well, the 'loofah incident' set us back another ten minutes as Tom grieved for the shower accessory. As I pointed out, he didn't take enough care of it and therefore wasn't deserving of it anyway. That seemed to shut him up, and we finally fell in the studio doors nearly an hour late. Some dirty looks were thrown our way, but to Tom's credit he was able to dispel them with his cute dimply smile.

After an hour, we've almost given up hope. All of the drummers and bass players we've seen so far have either been dreadful, or so far up their own arses I'm surprised they can walk straight. Some have been really old, and we even had someone who was 30 a while ago! I think he was having a bit of a mid-life crisis. Jeez he was like, twice as old as us; what made him think we'd actually want him in the band?

"Daaaaannyyyyy! I'm actually gonna kill myself if we don't find some people today. Or I'll just kill you." Tom moaned, and hit his head on the table. "NEXT!" He shouted, still facedown on the mahogany surface.

Through the door came this timid boy; he can't have been more than 15 years old. Which is only a year younger than me, but a year is quite a big gap when we're this young. He was wearing a white t-shirt; khaki cargo cut-offs and white Vans. His hair was spiked up, like mine and Tom's, but his was a darker colour with subtle blond highlights. Some of the hair had fallen over his eyes, which were a piercing blue. He was practically dragging his bass behind him, which was covered in various Blink-182 stickers. When he got to the centre of the room, he picked up the bass, slung the strap over his shoulder and whispered "hi."

Tom's attention was now focused on the boy, but I wanted to speak. "Hi dude, what's your name?"

He shuffled his feet and twanged a few strings on the bass while he fiddled with the knobs on the top of the guitar. "Um, Dougie." He answered. "Dougie Poynter."

"Well, Dougie. What're you gonna play for us?"

"All of This, by Blink." He answered, looking down at his scuffed trainers.

It was at that point that I really did feel some sympathy for the dude. I mean, he must feel a lot like I did, with these two weird guys just staring at him. Well, I had _three_ weird guys, but you get my point. "Okay Doug, sounds good. Actually, I don't think I've heard that one, where's it from?"

He seemed to appreciate the warmth in my voice, so answered in a louder voice than before. "Well, not a lot of people have heard it yet I guess. It's on their new album 'Blink-182', and it's an awesome song with great bass lines."

"Wicked! Well, when you're ready you can start."

Instead of replying, the younger boy smiled from underneath his hair and began strumming a slow song. He sung too, in a cute voice that was almost flawless. It was my turn to be speechless, and I was absolutely transfixed on the skill that Dougie was displaying. As he played, I stared deep into his eyes and I understood that he was singing from the heart. He wanted this as much as I wanted it, and the passion was there to see. Now I know what Tom saw in me on the day of my audition. Finally, he finished playing and I was still awestruck. Therefore, Tom spoke to him instead.

"Dude, you're hired." Is all he said, before Dougie leapt over the table and grabbed both of us into a bone-crushing hug.

* * *

Weeeeelll.

Did you like it? XD

Would like some reviews, hopefully I should get the next chapter up soon. But i'm going to Florida in two days, so you'll have to hold on for two weeks or so. I'll get some kinda writing done before then so you're not waiting too long.

Cheers guys. xx


	2. Auditions and Gay Chicken

**Wellll. Sorry it took so long guys.  
I was on holiday for two weeks, then I had a case of writer's block /**

**I have Corrupted and Smile in my head so badly. They just keep going round and round...**

**Here's chapter 2, hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: No I don't own McFLY blahhh blahhh.**

Our new bass player Dougie pulled up a chair and sat next to me behind the 'judging table'. Though he had been nervous for his audition, he was now verging on hyper. He bounced so much on his chair that he actually slid off and hit his head on the ledge of the table. Tom and I were concerned about him only until he stuck a hand up through the gap between the chair and the table and shouted "I'm okay!"

While Dougie was still on the floor making strange noises, Tom leaned across me and took away Doug's glass of Coke. He looked at me pointedly, and whispered "I don't think he'll be needing any more of that."

A final strained groan came from beneath the table, and Dougie managed to pull himself up and stabilise himself on the plastic chair. "Sooo" he said, whilst sweeping his fringe away from a reddened face. "We need a drummer, you say?"

I cleared my throat to hide my laughter, as Tom was giving me a look as if to say 'don't you DARE encourage him'. When I tried to speak, my voice went squeaky and Dougie almost pissed himself laughing. I snorted, and started giggling too. Tom at this point started to get really pissed off. "GUYS! Will you stop it? We've got like, a thousand and one people to audition for our band. Do you want this to work?"

I felt like a kid who'd just been told off by a teacher. "Well, yeah but we're just having a laugh." I said, and looked down at the piece of paper with the auditionees' details on. "Also… there are only 226 people out there to be auditioned." Dougie sniggered behind his hand, and gave me a high-five under the table.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"DUDES, you didn't tell me this would soooo goddamned BORING!" Dougie moaned, and rubbed his temples with the pads of his thumbs vigorously. We'd been auditioning people for two hours now, and Doug was twitchier than a ferret on drugs.

I raised my eyebrow at him, and said "well, we didn't exactly tell you it would be a barrel of laughs either, did we?"

Tom sighed and shuffled some papers on the table, straightening them as he talked. "It took us ages to find you Dougie, so it would be a shame to maim you now. Do us a favour and shut up. It's difficult to find someone for the band when they're all such… amateurs." It seemed Tom was coming out a little worse for wear today. First his loofah, and now Doug pissing him off. I feel sorry for his girlfriend.

"Mate, chill. They haven't _all_ been bad. I mean, the techy bloke just now was well good! He was doing all this…" and then I tried to do a demonstration of a particularly tricky drum sequence using two pencils.

The pissed-off blond wasn't best pleased however; he put his head in his hands and let out a long moan. Then he spoke in a long drawn out voice; which kinda scared me. "Why, God WHY have you left me here with these FREAKING LOONIES?"

"Ahem, us loonies? I seem to remember Danny telling me about the 'Dwarf incident'?" Dougie said, while flashing Tom an innocent smile. I'd actually forgotten telling him that, but it was funny seeing Tom's face anyway.

"Danny?" He said, his voice sounding too sickly-sweet for my liking.

"Yes Tom...?" Uh-oh.

"Don't move bitch, I'm gonna kill you." He growled, and with that, he lunged towards me. I leaned away from him and fell off my chair, doing a backwards roll on the floor.

As I was lying flat on my back, Dougie jumped into a standing position on his chair and started shouting "Shit Danny RUN!" I couldn't help but laugh at the situation; I think it's what I do when I get really nervous. Before I had time to move though, Tom leapt over the table and straddled my body.

Feeling just a tad freaked out by this, I chose to try and distract him from the pain I was undoubtedly about to receive. "Hey mate, I didn't know you swing that way." I said, and smiled cheekily.

Confusion flickered in his eyes for a second, before he smiled and decided to go along with my joke. "Well Danny, there are many things you still don't know about me." It was so hard not to laugh as he leaned down, his face coming ever closer towards mine.

Dougie's reaction should have been recorded on tape, because I swear to god it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. He jumped repeatedly on the chair, and half covered his eyes with both hands. Then a muffled, squeaky cry slipped through his fingers "DUDES, what the FUCK?"

Tom rolled off me and burst out laughing, clamping his arms between his legs in order to prevent himself from pissing his pants. My chest heaved with the exertion of laughing so much, whereas Dougie was still standing on the chair; nails digging into his face. "Dudes, that was soooo not funny" he said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and in walked a boy about our age. He might have been a bit older. He had some stubble on his chin, and his hair was longer than ours and brown, but swept back off his face. He was just dressed in a collared t-shirt and jeans, but I could tell he came from a family with a decent amount of money. How did I know that? Well, from where I was laying I could see his pristine white CK boxer shorts.

He seemed taken aback by the scene before him, and I couldn't say I blamed him. Two boys were lying on the floor with red faces, and another was standing on a chair gripping his face for dear life. "Uhhh, I was just… well, nobody's been in here for a while so I was just coming in to speed things up a bit. Is that okay?"

Tom jumped up and started brushing imaginary dirt from his top. He cleared his throat and switched into full business mode, as if he hadn't been rolling around on the floor a few seconds earlier. "Ahem, yeah of course it is! What's your name?"

The boy stepped further into the room, reached into his back jeans pocket and pulled out two drumsticks. He began twiddling them around his fingers in an almost hypnotic fashion. "My name's Harry Judd" he answered in a shaky voice.

Tom, Doug and I were now seated back at the table, and Harry made his way over to the drum kit in the middle of the room. When he'd sat down, Dougie asked "so, how long have you been playing?"

Harry dropped a drumstick, and while he was picking it up he answered "well, actually I've only been playing just over a year."

I looked across at Tom, who seemed to be put off by this information. I think he then judged Harry on how long he'd been playing, because when he began drumming a well-rehearsed sequence, Tom's jaw pretty much hit the floor. The sequence was well thought out, it had slow rhythms and fast-paced combos. But then he skipped a beat.

"Ahhh shite. I always get that bit wrong. It's so difficult to do!" He began clicking his knuckles and circling his wrists, as if to try and gain more flexibility from the digits. "Do you want me to play it again?"

Tom's jaw clicked back into place, and without taking his eyes off Harry, he leaned over and whispered in my ear "Dan, can I talk to you a sec?"

I barely had time to reply before he dragged me out of the room by my upper arm. When we were definitely out of earshot, I shrugged his tight-gripping hand off me and almost lost it with him "Tom, what the hell..?"

"Danny, don't you get it?" His eyes were wide, and he was talking with big hand gestures. "He's the one!"

I grinned, "What, the love of your life?"

"No. I mean the one for our band."

My grin subsided almost instantly. "But he messed up, Tom. We can find someone better than that, surely?"

"He's only been playing a year! He was amazing, and he only messed up once. If he's with us, he can practice all the time and then we'll be the best band out there." Tom replied, with all the enthusiasm of a holiday rep trying to sell a timeshare. "Please Dan, just give him a chance."

It was more like a statement than a question, so I didn't have much choice. "Yeah okay Tom, if you think it's the right thing to do. But I still don't like him."

"It's not just the _right_ thing Dan; it's the _best_ thing for the band. And the only reason you don't like him is because he has a better dress sense than you." He smirked at me and grabbed me in a headlock, rubbing my head with his knuckles.

I tickled his sides, and he burst out laughing before promptly letting go. "C'mon mate, let's go chat to the newest member of our band before I decide to kill you for saying he has a better dress sense than me. Because we all know that's not true."

Tom just looked at me, raised his eyebrows and smiled in a sarcastic way. Oh I swear I'm gonna kill him someday.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When Tom and I went back in the audition room, Dougie's face was beetroot red and Harry had a smug smirk on his face. I didn't like the smirking one bit.

"Dudes, he is HILARIOUS! Go on; tell them the one about the nun…" Dougie practically shouted, before petering out on seeing my hard stare at the source of his happiness.

Harry looked decidedly uncomfortable now (HA!) and so said "ehh, maybe another time yeah?" He then looked at me for a sign of forgiveness. He found none, unsurprisingly.

"Pfft, don't mind him Harry. He's just jealous that you made Doug laugh." Tom said.

I gave him a look that would have wilted most houseplants, but at the same time I couldn't stop my face going red. Shit. "Bloody hell Tom I've only known him half a day, why would I be jealous? And I'm not queer, so shut the fuck up."

"Hey, stop getting all defensive." He replied, and then returned his attention to Harry. "You'll have to save that joke for another day; maybe when we're in our own house?"

The well brought-up boy looked positively shocked. "Whoa… do you mean it? I didn't think I was nearly good enough for you guys!"

Tom smiled, "you obviously thought wrong then, didn't you?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tom and I were on the way home in his car. Harry and Dougie were going to stay at home until we could sort out different arrangements. I was still just a tad peed off with Harry. I mean, he's nothing special and he struts round like he owns the place.

The blond seemed to sense my anger. "Hey Dan, stop sulking. Harry's gonna be good for the band, you'll see. You'll like him in time. The only reason you don't like him now is because you two are so different."

"Well I'm not going to change Tom. Therefore I'm still gonna hate him in three years." My arms were crossed defensively, and Tom seemed to find this hilarious.

He laughed at my overall appearance, and shook his head slowly. "Well, whatever mate. He's a good guy, and an awesome drummer. You'll have to at least be civil to him."

"What does that mean?" I grumbled quietly.

Tom laughed even more. "Oh my god Danny, I don't believe you don't know what 'civil' means!"

He knows how to piss me off, doesn't he? "Oh fuck off Tom." I said, and slid further down the seat until the seatbelt was almost cutting into my neck.

The twat was still grinning at me when he said "Danny, chill. You're gonna have to cheer up a bit for tomorrow because you're coming with me to find a house."

I shot up in my seat and hit my head on the car roof. "Ow, shit. REALLY?"

"Yeah, and you know what that means?" At my confused expression he continued. "It means that we can get the biggest rooms for ourselves!"

A vampire smile crossed my face as I realised I could get one over on Harry. "Awesome." I whispered, to no-one in particular.

Tomorrow was going to be a much better day.

* * *

**Ooooh Danny is a miserable toad, isn't he? I promise he cheers up a bit in the next chappie )**

**ALSO I promise to have the next one up as soon as possible.**

**Thanks to you guys who've reviewed this already, your kind words are what keep me writing D**

**xxxxx**


	3. The New House

**I'm reaaaally sorry this took soooo long. I almost forgot about it with the amount of schoolwork I've been doing in preparation for this year. Grrr.**

**So I finally churned this chapter out with some frenzied typing. Please enjoy :D**

**YOU KNOW BY NOW- I don't own McFly, and this disclaimer covers the rest of the story, 'kay?**

I woke up the next morning in a much better mood. It might have had something to do with pissing Harry off in the near future, but it might have also been to do with the fact that we're FINALLY getting out of this room. It's hell.

Tom had since bought a new loofah, and he emerged out of the bathroom humming one of the Busted songs he helped write. I do admire him, he's so young but he's achieved so much. He's also really modest about it; you wouldn't catch him bragging in the pub to some blondes with big boobs. That's just not how he is.

"Danny my man, you ready to go house-hunting?" Tom said, whilst rubbing his hair with a small towel.

I grinned at him "well actually, we're not really _hunting _for houses 'cause we've found a couple…"

"You know what I mean. Now, move your arse or we're gonna be late."

I gave him an incredulous look. "HA! You can talk! You spend more time in the shower than my sister does!" (And that is freakin' AGES!)

"That's not the point, Daniel." Haha, he only uses my full name when he's really pissed off. "You are currently lying on the bed in your boxers, lining up M&Ms on your chest. At least I'm getting ready."

I would have liked to have gone over and punched him, but at that point I had fifty seven M&Ms carefully balanced on my chest in colour order, and I didn't want them to fall off. So instead I threw one of the sweets at the back of his head. When he turned round to swear at me, I pulled the most innocent face and said "Blue doesn't like you very much."

"Well 'Blue' isn't the one who's gonna get the smallest bedroom if he doesn't hurry up!"

I swear Tom thinks he's my mum or something. Seriously, how old does he think I am? Oh, wait. I did have sweets on my chest. I swept them off, and pulled on my jeans. Making my way into the bathroom, I asked Tom where we were going first.

Still facing the mirror, he began "well, it's only down the road actually…" but then he turned to face me and started giggling. The giggling turned into full on bursts of laughter and he had to hold the sink to stay standing up. I wasn't really sure what he was laughing at, because he was blocking the view of the mirror. "D-Danny, you have a rainbow chest!" He sniggered, and doubled over laughing once more.

I pushed him out of the way of the mirror, and all over my chest were little dots of sugary colourings. "Ahhh shit!" I shrieked, and tried to rub some of them off. "TOM! They don't come off!" He took one look at me, and collapsed into fits of laughter again.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

We pulled up to the first house in Tom's car. My face was literally glued to the window, as I gazed out at the house that might soon be ours. "Tom, it's huge!"

"Dan, how did you know?" He replied, with a grin. "Have you been looking?"

I was disgusted, but I couldn't help laughing. "Aha, you wish mate. I'm talking about the house."

"Well yeah, that's big as well. It's got four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The living room's a decent size too." He replied, climbing out of the Punto and slamming the door behind him. "I tell you what," he said, "when we get paid I'm gonna buy a better car. This is a piece of crap."

I began walking towards the front door of the house. "At least you have a piece of crap!" I shouted over my shoulder, "I have at least another year until I can get a car."

Tom must have sensed my excitement at trying to get in the house as quickly as possible, because he quickly dampened my spirits by saying "Dan, you know we're only _renting_ this house, right?"

"Yeah…" I said slowly, masking my disappointment with a convincing smirk. "I just wanna bagsy the biggest room before you do!" With that, I ran in the front door, thundered up the stairs and my nose came within two inches of an estate agent's clipboard.

I turned bright red, and the pretty brunette stuck out her hand confidently and said, "You must be Mr. Fletcher, here to look at the property?"

I shook her hand anyway, feeling it would be rude not to, but answered "no, actually. Sorry, I'm Tom's friend and I'm here to look at the house with him."

Thankfully, Tom appeared on the landing at that point and entertained the agent from then on. He made the appropriate comments in each room and asked questions that I wouldn't have even thought to ask. The house wasn't as nice as I'd originally thought; the living room was small and there was a lot of damp and old lady smell. I did find my ideal room, however. It was big enough to set up a mixing desk for any songs we wanted to record, and I could have a double bed. Of course, it was the biggest room but what surprised me was that Tom wanted what looked like the smallest room! Anyway, there was no doubt that this was the house for us, until we found ourselves more permanent accommodation in the future.

Leaving the house was quite sad because I'd already become attached to it, so when we were back in our hotel room, Tom suggested that we camp there overnight.

"…You know we can take sleeping bags and pizza and stuff. Then tomorrow, we can put our furniture in it." He suggested, whilst fiddling with one of his t-shirt buttons.

I had to admit, I found the idea quite exciting. "Yeah!" I shouted, and managed to flip Tom's lyric book onto the floor as I jumped up off my bed.

"NO!" Tom squealed "MY BABY!" He then combo-rolled off my bed, scooped up his book and cradled it in the crook of his arm. He breathed a sigh of relief, and checked the corners for any signs of damage. "DANNY! You fool. This is the key to our success! You must be more careful around this book." He tutted at me, and he distinctly reminded me of a sour-faced old lady I used to call Auntie Maureen. (She was of no relation to me, but my mum insisted I call her Auntie, as she had no family. I couldn't think why.)

I cocked my eyebrow at the hysteric blond, and started to pack my stuff to take to the house later that evening.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was coming up to midnight. Tom, Harry, Doug and I were sat in a circle, shrouded by our sleeping bags. I had since decided that Harry was an alright bloke, so we talked to each other, but still not in a 'buddy buddy' kinda way. I think he was still a bit cautious around me; after all, I didn't exactly welcome him with open arms.

We had just finished telling each other ghost stories (well, Dougie just listened) and so we were all feeling a little tense. Even though our stories were about 'raging pizza monsters' and 'the curse of the black guitar', we felt the need to sit as close together as possible and put our torches on high-beam. There was a lot of nervous giggling coming from Tom, and Harry decided to join in.

Then, Dougie spoke for what seemed like the first time that evening. "Come on guys, this is stupid. Are we just gonna sit here all night?"

I pushed the corner of my sleeping bag out of my face so that I could reply "eh, that was the idea. I mean, it's 'safety in numbers', right?"

Dougie rolled his eyes, and stood up a little shakily. He balanced one hand on his hip, and with the other, pointed directly between my eyes. "Daniel Jones, I challenge you… to a pillow fight."

I laughed and stood to face him, looking down into his eyes. I bent down and retrieved my crumpled pillow, never breaking the eye contact. Dougie did the same, and I said "Douglas Lee Poynter. I will accept your challenge, only if you address me by my full name."

"Well, I guess I'm screwed then," he said. But I didn't expect that smug look to appear on his face, smothering my confidence. I gripped my pillow tightly in my fist as he spoke. "Daniel Alan David Jones. I challenge you…" he stated, moving a step closer to me so that I could smell the shampoo he'd used this morning "…to a pillow fight." He finished.

I remained dazed by the lovely coconut smell of his hair, until I realised that he had actually known my full name. "Dude, how do you know my middle names? We've barely known each other two days!" I then whacked him round the face with my pillow, a couple of feathers drifting to the ground.

Dougie looked like a mad-man, his hair was out of place, and he had a shocked expression on his face. He'd apparently forgotten that it was he who'd challenged me in the first place. Pushing his hair back off his forehead, he answered with flushed crimson cheeks, "ahem. It's sewn into your boxers…" And he returned the favour by knocking me straight off my feet with his much firmer pillow.

From my face-down position on the carpet, I could hear Tom and Harry's laughter echo around the empty room. But I didn't mind, in fact I smiled to myself, remembering Doug's red face as he admitted to seeing the nametag my mum had sewn into my boxers before I'd left home. From above me, I heard "oof!" as a pillow connected with another unfortunate person.

Pretty soon the room was full of feathers, and the pillows had been abandoned in favour of play fighting. It was approaching four in the morning when we finally collapsed on the floor, absolutely exhausted from our second-wind.

"That… was awesome!" Tom panted, his chubby face glistening with sweat.

"Shut up and go to sleep, you poof." Harry whined, and smacked Tom on the chest whilst lying flat on the floor.

Dougie spat a feather out of his mouth, and it landed on my face. "EURGH!" I shouted, "Dougie spit, gross!"

Dougie turned his head and replied "get used to it Dan, you'll be seeing a LOT more of that." He grinned, and it made me feel dizzy. My face was already red from the fighting, so he didn't see me blush (thankfully).

I don't know why Dougie's smile has such a weird impact on me. I can talk to him perfectly normally, but when he does that grin of his it just makes me smile. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not gay. I think it's because he's cute like a girl, and he's just generally attractive. All guys go through this phase, don't they?

"Oi, you lovers over there. Shut it, I need some sleep before we do loads of lifting tomorrow" Tom snapped, the late night beginning to affect him at last.

Harry sniggered. "Yeah, and you know how much Tom hates any physical activity…"

"What are you suggesting Harry?"

"Mate, I was just joking. You know I love you." Harry replied, and gave the blond a massive smile.

Tom seemed a little put off by this comment, but it made him drop the subject, shuffle round and fall asleep almost instantaneously.

I sent Harry a nervous grin across the circle, and he held up his hand for a high-five. I accepted, and I also accepted him as one of us. That was the time when I felt like the band had truly come together at last. Now all we had to do was think of a name.

Harry yawned and said "I'm going to sleep guys; I can't stay awake any longer!"

"Night Harry!"

"Yeah, g'night mate." I agreed, and Harry was asleep as soon as his head had hit the floor.

I felt uncomfortable in the presence of just Dougie, and he seemed to feel the same way, as he didn't talk for a few minutes. This was the shy Dougie that came out as soon as there was any one-to-one conversation. He was fine in a group, but hated any kind of confrontation.

After what felt like an eternity, he said "dude, I'm gonna hit the hay too. I'm knackered and I'm gonna be so moody tomorrow."

I was a bit disappointed, but I felt that I should go to sleep too. Everyone would be needed the next morning and being tired wasn't gonna be a good enough excuse to not help out. "Okay" I said, resigned to the idea. "See you in a few hours."

"Night Danny" whispered Doug, as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Lying in the dark with Dougie's body inches away from mine, I smiled.

* * *

**N'awwwwh ain't he cute? Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter, I'll try and do it as quickly as possible...**

**Promise!**

**xxxx**


	4. The Name

**Hmm. This took a while :P  
NEXT CHAPTER, finally...  
Some people seem to be concerned about when I'm gonna move the DanXDoug situation along a bit, and I'm happy to say that it's totally coming along now, but there is still a lot of confusion from our lovely Northern boy :D**

**Basically, BE PATIENT, 'KAY?**

**Introduction of the lovely James Bourne from Busted. Yeaaah I love him, he's brilliant.**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

I think it's safe to say that we DEFINITELY did not get enough sleep last night. When I woke up, Tom was positively screaming at Dougie about the state of the room. Even though, as I would have pointed out if my head hadn't hurt so much, he was making as much mess last night as Doug was. Harry was still practically unconscious in amongst the feathers, and a pizza box was laying upside-down, lid open in one of the corners. This didn't escape Tom's notice.

"Just LOOK at this mess! Danny, how did you let it get like this?"

Headache or no headache, I wasn't gonna take abuse from Tom. "Mate, unless I'm very much mistaken, you made this mess as well as us. If you're that bothered about it, clean it up" I said with confidence.

Dougie had been stood in a way that made him look as small as possible, but now he straightened and smiled at me gratefully. I smiled back, with butterflies in my stomach and mouthed 'no problem'.

"Ew, ew, eww, AHH!" Tom shrieked. He had been lifting the pizza box off the floor, when a massive rat sped from underneath it into the kitchen. I hadn't noticed this at first, because I was feeling pretty proud of myself for asserting myself towards Tom. But when the aforementioned blond barrelled past me with a broom, I couldn't help but notice.

"Doug, where the _hell_ did he find a broom?" I asked; my brain still a bit fried from the beer we had last night. (I know we're only 16, but come on.)

He simply shrugged, and kicked Harry in the stomach. A groan was heard from the drummer, and he sat up slowly, picking feathers off his face that had stuck there with drool. He didn't speak though, and he was staring off into the distance.

Tom returned to the room looking very happy with himself, but his face fell when he saw us just loitering around. "GUYS! We have to be ready like, NOW! The furniture people are coming round in about five minutes!"

"We're all dressed, in case you hadn't noticed," I said "so what needs to be done? Chill out a bit."

Tom growled, turned round and walked out of the room. He continued to talk to himself though, much to mine and Dougie's amusement. "Chill out? _Chill out_? I have so much to do, and he doesn't appreciate it at all…"

Doug and I exchanged a look with raised eyebrows, and fell about laughing.

"Guys, what's funny?" Were Harry's first words that morning and it just made us laugh even more.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Of course, the furniture men didn't arrive until two o'clock which was three hours late. This didn't do much to improve Tom's mood, and it also meant we had less time to arrange the whole house. But we did have fun just generally pissing about. First, we sorted out the whole of downstairs and then we sorted out our own rooms. My room looks awesome, I have to say. I've got my mixing desk next to the window, and my bed next to that. I could fit all my posters and signed stuff on the walls, so that I looked more like a Springsteen roadie than a member of my own band.

I had to help Doug with his room, because he seemed to be having a bit of trouble moving his bed. He crept into my room, barely making a sound, and whispered "Dan, could you give us a hand?"

He looked like he was terrified to be asking me for help, and his face was flushed red from the exertion of trying to move his bed himself. Or was it because..?

"I mean, you don't have to help but I'm kinda finding this a bit difficult…" he reiterated, still waiting for my reply.

"No, dude of course I'll help!" I sprung into action and we'd got the bed in place in barely two minutes.

He smiled in thanks. He didn't talk much, but that didn't bother me because what he wanted to say was always expressed in his face. He was so easy to read, but at the moment, I felt like I couldn't see what he was thinking at all. I realised at that moment that I still barely knew him.

"Do you wanna go in the street for a kick about?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.

Doug seemed surprised by the invitation, we still had loads to do and Tom would get more pissed off if he knew we were skiving from the job. But to my amazement, he grinned widely and replied "hell yeah. But you have to know now; I can't play football for my life."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dougie was sprawled on the tarmac, panting for breath and sweaty-faced. I was hovering above him, laughing whilst I caught my own breath. "You weren't lying mate, were you?" I said, and offered him my hand so he could get up.

He grabbed my arm gratefully, and I lifted him up as he said "dude, where did you learn to play like that?"

I shrugged truthfully. "I dunno really, if I wasn't gonna be a musician, I wanted to be a footballer so I've always been on a team."

"Did you learn from your dad?" Dougie asked innocently, brushing the gravel from his t-shirt and looking at me expectantly for an answer.

He wasn't to know, he just asked. But I could feel my whole aura darken as I relived the memories I'd wanted to block out forever. They were still residing in my brain, ready to leap out when I was my happiest and infect my emotional scars that ran deeper than I thought. I felt my face flush red, and tears start to well up in my eyes. I was pretty sure Doug could see this, and I bit my lip to stop my chin from trembling. I turned away. "I don't have a father." I said and began to walk, leaving the football to roll down the street.

Before I had taken two steps, Dougie grabbed onto my wrist and I saw that he had tears in his eyes too. "My dad left too."

Then I was hugging him. And before long, I was crying like a baby. He remained quiet, but rubbed my back with the heel of his hand in a comforting way. I'd never told this to anyone except for Tom, and I hadn't planned to tell anyone else. Dougie just _knew_. He knew what it was like to have a father that didn't care about him, just about booze. He knew what it was like to be rejected by the one person you're supposed to look up to the most in life.

Dougie stepped back, and pulled a hankie out of his pocket. He held it to me, and I gave it a look before he said "dude, I haven't used it" and grinned.

I gave him a watery smile and took it; I noticed he held on a bit too long. "I'm sorry I cried, I don't generally make a habit of it." I said, feeling a bit stupid that I'd poured my heart out to this near-stranger.

He smiled this genuine smile that I hadn't seen before, and it made me warm up inside. "Danny, you don't worry about it. But if we carry on like this we'll end up on some badly-acted daytime TV show, and then you really will be sorry."

I laughed. It was a strange sound, like I hadn't laughed in a long time. Well, I hadn't until I'd met the guys. Just then, Tom bounced out of the house.

"I HAVE IT! I HAVE A… guys, what the hell?" Tom finished, looking at my tear-soaked face.

"What Tom? You have a penis? Goodness, how did you find that?" Dougie asked, one eyebrow raised and the sarcasm positively dripping from his mouth.

I giggled, and then felt ashamed of myself. Seriously, I'm not a ten year old fan girl. I need to stop that.

"I mean, what's been going on out here? You two look like you've had a domestic already."

"Don't worry Tom. It's sorted" Doug replied, sending me that smile again. I very nearly melted, so hid myself behind the hankie and pretended to wipe my eyes.

Tom still looked suspicious "…yeeeah okay then. Anyway, I've thought of a name for the band!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

We all gathered in the living room, as Tom decided to make this a formal event. James (Bourne) had decided to 'pop round' and check out our house, and all he had succeeded in doing so far was making a right mess. I swear he's on drugs.

"THIS PLACE IS WICKED!" He shrieked and threw himself on the sofa, making the cushions go flying.

You could actually see the vein on Tom's temple throbbing as he tried to ignore our older friend. "Now, I've actually only just thought of this name so tell me what you think. I think we could be called 'McFly'."

Harry and I looked at each other in disbelief, and Doug and James made 'cuckoo' signs with their fingers next to their heads.

"…you don't like it?"

"Eh..." I answered, not sure what to say next, "It's, um, original I guess."

James jumped up from the sofa he'd obliterated and gave Tom a noogie (rubbed head with knuckles), which he didn't seem too happy about. While Tom flapped his arms at the older boy, he talked over the top. "I actually think that's a cool name. Who else would think of it? It's one word, and it's punchy. I can see it up in lights…" he finished, making a sweeping motion with his hand as he said 'lights'.

I was still sceptical, but James carried on. "Think about it Dan," he said directly to me, "it'd be so catchy as a chant: 'McFLY! McFLY! McFLY!' I can hear your audience screaming now…"

I had to admit, it was becoming a better idea by the second. I _could_ hear people screaming it, and we didn't have any better ideas for a potential name. I grinned at Harry. "What do you think mate?" I asked him.

He half-smiled at me and then asked Tom "where on Earth did you come up with that name?"

I was quite curious myself, actually. I knew I'd heard it somewhere before, but I couldn't place it out of context. Tom looked rather embarrassed at that moment, and he was just about to answer when Dougie's eyes widened in realisation. "I KNOW! I KNOW!" He shouted, and pointed a finger accusingly at the blond. "It's Back to the Future, isn't it? Marty McFly?"

Tom looked resigned. "Yeah, but I like it because it has a nice ring to it, you know? I can really see this working."

I nodded in agreement, and I looked over to see Dougie nodding just as enthusiastically. Harry still didn't look as convinced though. I saw a wicked smirk play across James' features, before he shouted "PILE ON HARRY!" and absolutely leapt onto the unfortunate drummer.

Tom jumped next, and I followed soon after that. There were many groans coming from Harry as he tried to shift under the weight. Dougie clambered onto the sofa, jumped off and flew onto the pile. I swore I felt at least one rib crack, or that might have been Tom's. We were all laughing due to the lack of oxygen, and I felt a bit dizzy with Dougie on top of me. Wait, what? In that moment, I forgot where I was until I heard from the bottom of the pile a squeak from Harry.

James wiggled around a bit, squashing Harry more and said "what was that dude? You like the name?"

"YES… NOW GET… OFF ME!" wheezed Harry, with a very red face.

We fell off like dominoes, but I managed to roll on top of Dougie. I know, how's my luck? Our faces ended up inches away from each other, and my hair (which I've just started to grow) was lightly brushing his face. He looked as embarrassed as I felt, but still didn't move. He swallowed, and I inched slightly closer.

He still didn't move, but smiled ever so slightly at my gesture. I was surprised when he lifted his head until our lips were barely touching, but I could feel it all the same.

"SHIT!" someone shouted from the other side of the room. I thought we'd been caught, but apparently we still had some rats in the house.

I flung myself from Dougie, just in time for James to come bounding past with the same broom Tom had earlier, shouting "GANGWAY!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sitting on the sofa later, I touched my lips gently. I'd been trying to recreate the feeling I'd had when mine and Dougie's lips had brushed, but I couldn't.

Looking across to the other sofa, I noticed that Doug had one finger on his bottom lip and he was staring into space. Maybe we shouldn't have done that. Maybe I've just put the whole of our musical career into jeopardy, the whole of _McFly's_ musical career.

I have a headache.

* * *

**WHADDYA THINK?**

You know the drill...


	5. Unhelpful Advice

**WOOT! Next chappie up, aren't you guys sooo glad? :D  
Anywaaays this chapter is Danny trying to find his feet and where he stands with the whole 'am I gay?' thing. GIVE HIM TIIIME PEOPLE! Remember he's only like, 16/17 at this moment so he's a little confused about life as it is.**

**I still don't know how many chapter sthis thing is gonna have, but I doubt it'll be LOADS more, people will get bored. **

**Anything else...? Nah. Just enjoy XD**

* * *

I woke up the next morning pretty early. It was about eight o'clock, but I had no intentions of getting out of bed. I kept thinking about the 'kiss' that Dougie and I shared yesterday, and how much I actually enjoyed it. It wasn't like I kissed him either, he kissed _me_.

I still don't think I'm gay though. It might be a phase; in fact I really hope it is just a phase. What would my parents, the fans, the rest of McFly think? But I kept thinking back to his face, inches below mine. Doug's eyes were shining with anticipation, and I could feel his heart beat so fast next to mine.

I must have lain there until at least midday when I heard a knock on my door. It actually made me jump out of bed, as it had caught me completely unawares. I grabbed a pillow off the bed and put it in front of my boxers just in time, to see Tom sneak through the doorway ready to wake me up with one of Harry's cymbals.

"Oh thank god it's just you!" I heaved a sigh of relief.

Tom smirked and said "who did you think it was gonna be Dan? Your lover-boy?"

I couldn't pretend I wasn't shocked by this. "Wh… what? I don't understand, 'lover-boy'?"

He sat down on my bed, and wrapped himself in my duvet. I knew I was in for a 'talk'; he seemed to be making himself comfortable. Tom sent me a sympathetic smile before he started. "Danny, I know that you and Doug kinda have something going on."

I sat down next to him, and he extended part of the duvet so I could share it with him. "I just don't know what's going on right now." I admitted. "In my head I've just got all these things going round and round; what if this is all just because of stress?"

"Dan, you don't start liking someone because of stress. When you're stressed, you take drugs or drink booze. This is a natural thing."

"Being gay isn't natural. It's weird." I objected, and then sighed. "Could it be a phase?" I asked, praying he would say yes, it could be a phase.

The answer I got wasn't what I expected, or wanted, at all. "I… I'm not sure it is, Dan. The way you look at him and the way he looks at you isn't unlike the way Gio and I used to look at each other."

"Doug… looks at me?"

He smiled; the expression on my face must have been worth taking a picture of. "Yeah, a lot actually. He really looks up to you, he told me so. But he feels like you're too good for him, as a best friend or whatever."

"He tells you all this?"

"Yeah, but if the whole gay thing bothers you so much, then just let it go. Forget about him in that way, and just enjoy his friendship." Tom stood up, winked at me, and left.

The door closed behind him with a sharp click, and I felt like I'd just lost something. A potential relationship? I felt I could never be friends with Dougie in the way he wanted me to be. I couldn't get close, not really, as I'd get hurt in one way or the other. He'd have girlfriends, no doubt about that, but how would I cope with it?

Right, I can't do this. I can't lie to myself. People who live their whole lives lying to themselves end up having mental breakdowns and shit. I'm not gonna be one of those people.

Feeling super-confident, I marched out of my room temporarily forgetting that I was still only in my boxers. Unfortunately for me, Dougie came round the corner just as I realised my fatal mistake, and he got a full view of me in my too-tight boxers before I managed to run away again.

I didn't hear any laughing, which was weird. I thought I would have done, but maybe Doug was still half-asleep, so I'm not complaining. Needless to say however, I stayed in my room a little while after I got dressed just to make sure I wouldn't go downstairs to find the rest of the guys all laughing at me.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

James Bourne was in our kitchen, cooking breakfast. Well, it should have been lunch but that obviously hadn't stopped him from cooking enough eggs, sausages and bacon for a whole army.

His chef's hat was balanced on his head in a jaunty way (where the hell did he get that from?) and he was waving a spatula around which meant that blobs of oil and fat were flying everywhere. He was oblivious to all this however, as he had his Walkman super glued to his ears.

Dodging the oil (which was hot, by the way,) I snuck up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"WAAAH!" He squealed, and managed to hit me in the face with the spatula.

I wiped my face, which would now be greasy all day. Well, I've yet to meet a guy my age whose face isn't greasy to be honest. "Thanks mate, much appreciated."

He looked thoroughly offended, and it made me laugh to myself because he looked so much like Tom. "Well, Mr Jones you did NOT have to sneak up on me like that did you?"

Honestly, I tried to take him seriously but it was so difficult when he had a blob of egg on his nose. I laughed, but then said "James, can I ask you a question?"

"That depends," he said, scratching his nose "whether you think my advice would help you or not."

"How did you know I was coming to you for advice..?"

He gave me an incredulous look before pressing 'pause' on his Walkman. All of his attention was on me, and he leaned against the sideboard. "Danny, you're walking around with a kind of puzzled expression, like you don't know what to do with yourself. What's the situation?"

I rubbed my head with my hand as if trying to get rid of these thoughts that had been occupying my mind all night, and in my dreams. "What… what do you do if you like someone? And I mean, _like_ like."

James grinned to himself, as if remembering a memory. "I tell them, straight out."

"And it works?"

His face fell. "No. Why do you think I haven't got a girlfriend?"

Standing there in his jaunty chef's hat, with a spatula in one hand and walkman in the other, I couldn't understand why exactly James _didn't_ have a girlfriend.

Then he let out a massive belch. "Whew, that was a ripe one!" He laughed, and gave me two thumbs up.

Oh yeah, that's why.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I've resigned to just sitting in my room. That way, I don't have to watch Doug smile and know that I wasn't the one that made him do so. I hate that. Harry always tells jokes and they make Dougie smile in the cutest way; I can't do that.

He smiles when Tom goes into one of his rants, and when he stomps around the house with an attitude. Does he ever smile when I do something? If so, I never see it.

There was a knock on my door. I made a noise that translated as 'come in', and Dougie poked his head round the door. Oh great. He looked concerned as soon as he saw my face, and I realised that it was wet from tears. I wiped them away, and sniffed loudly.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" Doug asked, and sat opposite me on the bed. I could feel his body heat radiating towards me, but he still felt so far away.

I wasn't gonna lie to him. "You know yesterday?"

He immediately flushed red and looked down at my bedcovers. It looked like he was inspecting each fibre. "Mhmm…" he mumbled, barely audibly.

"Did that mean anything to you?"

He sighed, and made eye contact with me for the first time since he'd come into my room. He looked back down and replied "well, that depends on whether it meant anything to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to get too excited but all the while, my heart started to beat faster and louder with every breath I took.

Dougie grinned to himself and shook his head slightly. "What do you think I mean, Dan? You know, I've really only just met you but I feel like I've known you my whole life! Of course that 'kiss' meant something to me. But the question you really should be asking is '_what_?'"

I was surprised by this show of confidence from the quiet boy, and it made me smile to myself. Instead of replying, I simply moved closer to him on the bed and made eye contact with him. I noticed the colour of his eyes properly then. They're a beautiful colour; like a sea green. I'm sure there are better ways to describe them, but at that moment I was pretty much mesmerised and I couldn't think of anything else.

Harry has the most awful timing, except when he's telling a joke. But just then, he burst into the room (DOESN'T HE KNOW ABOUT KNOCKING?) and saw me and Doug about an inch away from each other and our faces the same colour as my bed sheets. (Red, duh.)

"Weeeell this looks cosy, doesn't it?" He grinned, and raised an eyebrow in our direction.

Dougie leapt from the bed as if it was burning him "SCREW YOU HARRY!" He shouted, and ran from the room like a scared deer.

"Cheers Harry. You fucked that one up for me didn't you?" I said angrily, contemplating what I might have just lost.

Harry was motionless, taking it what had just happened. "Waaait a sec, what just happened with you two?"

"We were just talking…"

"Yeah right mate and my name's not Harry Judd."

I was blushing furiously now. How come the person I didn't want to tell about all this, is going to be the person who finds out? Life totally isn't fair.

Harry squeezed the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb, as if forcing the words out of his mouth. "Tell me Dan, do you like Dougie?"

The question hung in the air between us, and I saw the faintest smile trace Harry's lips as he watched my hesitation to answer. "Maybe…"

"I KNEW IT, I FUCKING KNEW IT!" He squealed and jumped on me, ignoring my frantic gestures to shut up.

Pushing him off me, I asked "how did you know?" In the calmest voice I could, considering the situation.

Harry suddenly became interested in his fingernails, and while chewing them he smugly said "you two kissed yesterday."

"Oh SHIT! You saw that? Oh god, what am I going to do now?" I panicked, practically tearing my hair out as I paced the room faster and faster.

The older boy stuck out his arm to stop me in my tracks. "Dan, you don't honestly think I'm going to tell anyone do you?" His sincere gaze pierced my soul and I understood at once that he was being truthful. I calmed almost instantly.

I flopped on my bed and laid my arm across my eyes, hoping that if I couldn't see then everything would just go away. "What do I do?" I asked, almost pleading with Harry to help me, to give me a sign of where to turn next.

He only smiled and said "that, Mr. Jones is up to you."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Around seven o'clock that evening, Tom called up the stairs for everyone to come down to dinner. Needless to say I wasn't feeling very hungry, and even when I heard James and Harry hurtling down the stairs it took me a while to convince my brain that starving myself wasn't the best option in any situation. I sighed to myself and padded slowly out of my room.

As I crossed the landing and barely got past Dougie's room, a thing jumped from the room in question and pinned me to the wall opposite the stairs. "Doug mate, what the frick are you doing?" I asked, barely having caught my breath after the assault.

He stuttered, but answered confidently albeit with a crimson face. "Kiss me."

"You what?"

"I SAID KISS ME, FOOL," he whispered aggressively.

I slammed my hand over his mouth and shushed him, as he had basically shouted his last request. Not a moment later, Tom shouted "GUYS! Are you coming down or what? I'm giving you two minutes before I come up there and get you myself!"

"What is this about?" I whispered hurriedly "we don't have time for it!"

The blush disappeared from his face and he pulled my hand away from his mouth. "I don't know, I was just playing and I thought you might have just kissed me instead of asking all these dumb quest-"

I cut him off with a quick kiss and softly said "there, you happy now?"

He closed his eyes and smiled widely, as if trying to preserve the moment. I didn't realise he felt that much for me. Or… was he just experimenting? After all, he did just say he was playing; and nothing more.

His face told a different story though. The way his hand gripped onto my t-shirt and the way his eyes were glistening with a whole new understanding, just made me smile and in that moment I knew that I wasn't wrong. I knew that this wasn't just curiosity, and I realised that I was in love with a band member.

Oh shit. I'm in LOVE with Douglas Lee Poynter.

"THAT'S IT! I'm coming to get you! I'm NOT letting this dinner go to waste…"

* * *

**Weeell?**

**You know what to do.**

**Till next time, dudes xxx**


	6. Burying the Past

**Well howdee =)**

**Next chapter out (WOO!) and I've already half-written the next one XD  
**

**This chapter involves my favourite part of the Radio:ACTIVE DVD, and it's the bit right at the end :)  
I wet myself every time I watch it. It is that funny :P**

**Oh yeah, pretty major time jump, but I was bored of them being so young. Now I can have more fun with them, hehehehe.**

**Enjoy :D**

With a panicked expression, Doug pushed away from me and desperately tried to flatten his hair. I found this quite amusing, so started snickering behind my hand.

"Danny!" He whispered harshly, "you march yourself down those stairs now before Tom suspects something."

I rolled my eyes at him, but took the two necessary steps to the top stair and that was when Tom's face appeared at the very bottom and needless to say, it wasn't very happy. In fact, it was bright red and you could almost see the steam coming from his ears.

"I SWEAR you two do this to me JUST to piss me off. Well, I can tell you it works. Happy now?"

I kept my head low to disguise my silent laughter, but I was sure the angry blond could see my shoulders shaking from the pressure of my giggling. Suddenly I felt a vice grip on my upper arm, as the blond in question had managed to climb the stairs without me noticing him and grab it. "OUCH! Jeez Tom, we were just coming…" I tried to reason, but he wasn't having any of it.

"I TOLD you I was coming to get you, didn't I? Hmm? Think you might listen to me next time?" He was dragging me down the staircase, but then turned round and motioned dangerously for Dougie to follow. The boy timidly took one step before Tom shouted "HURRY UP!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After Tom had unceremoniously dragged me into the dining room, he appeared to be in a much better mood. Once Doug and I were both sat next to each other at the table, Harry began throwing us questioning looks in between each mouthful of spaghetti.

James was twiddling the strands onto his fork, with his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. The concentration on his face was hilarious, and when the pasta slid off, he sighed heavily and tried again. Silence reigned, so I looked sideways at Dougie. He glanced up at me at the same time, and our eyes met for a split second.

Harry then decided to kick my chair, which meant I managed to flick food into Dougie's lap. He looked at me accusingly, but then motioned with his head to his lap and raised his eyebrows. I was confused at first, but then I realised what he meant and my face turned scarlet with embarrassment.

The Busted boy looked from Dougie to me, and then said "Oi lovers, no flirting at the dinner table. I'm trying to eat here."

I retaliated with my face still burning. "Hey James you tramp, why are you even still here?"

"Matt refuses to cook all the time, and Charlie refuses to cook altogether. Basically, if I don't come here I don't eat, 'kay?" He replied, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Also, I know you guys love me."

Harry snorted into his bowl, splattering tomato sauce on the tablecloth.

"Ahhh of course we love you dude!" Dougie said, getting up from his seat to hug James' head. A strangled noise was heard from James and the other boy said dangerously "but if you refer to Dan and me as lovers again, this will officially be your last dinner. EVER."

Then he let go of the unfortunate boy, who began massaging his neck but still said "bit touchy on the subject are we?"

Dougie flopped into his chair, and didn't answer. I twiddled some spaghetti on to my fork, and ate in silence as I watched the things he wanted to say evaporate into thin air.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I had retired to my room yet again, when I heard a commotion coming from downstairs. I had been sitting in the dark; so many thoughts crossed my mind as to what it could be about.

Then I heard someone thundering up the stairs. My door flew open and Doug stood there, breathless. "D-Dan, come downstairs, quick!" He panted, and I outright panicked.

I ran down about five of the steps, and jumped the rest. Pushing open the kitchen door forcefully, I found that there was nobody in the room. I glanced around quickly, looking from left to right and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"SHIT!" I cried, and spun round to face Dougie. He was smiling gently at me looking totally innocent. I put my hand on my chest and heaved a breath of needed oxygen. "Wh-what was all the fuss about?"

Still smiling, Dougie answered "I just wanted to talk to you properly, the others have gone to take James back home and with them around it's impossible to talk like this."

"Well what did you want to talk about?"

He simply raised an eyebrow, and rolled his eyes at me.

"WHAT?"

He laughed and said "you're cute when you're angry."

I sighed, and said exasperatedly "Doug, please. Just tell me why the fuck you scared the hell out of me and then told me you just wanted to talk?"

What happened next was unexpected. Dougie looked down at the floor, and I saw a tear splash to the ground. It sounded so loud in the deathly silence, and I didn't know what to do. "Danny, don't be angry with me, please. I just wanted to make sure you would listen to me."

"I'd always listen to you Dougie."

He looked up. "But this is the thing; I don't know if you'll like what I'm going to say…"

I stared into his red-rimmed eyes, but they gave nothing away. I just saw a lot of pain. "How do you know that?" I asked quietly.

Instead of answering my question, he started to apologise profusely. "I'm sorry Danny," he blurted out, "but I can't do this right now."

"Do what?" I asked, slightly panicked by what this could mean.

"This. Me and you. I'm too young; _we're _too young! We have the whole of our lives to live yet, and I just… I think we need to grow up."

His words hit me like a ton of bricks, but at the same time a small corner of my brain understood what he meant. "So… what do we do now?"

"We dig a massive hole in our heads, and bury this. Bury it for as long as it takes; or…"

"…Or forever." I finished, clenching my fists. Then I turned away and switched off the light, leaving Dougie to hug himself in the dark kitchen.

And that's the way it stayed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Nearly 5 Years Later /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So guys, new album! Tell me about that…" said the busty blonde interviewer, who had a slight tendency to lean towards Dougie and give him an eyeful of her cleavage.

We all looked at Tom, who began his answer. "Well, we went to Australia for ten weeks to record Radio:ACTIVE, and we can honestly say it's the best stuff we've ever written."

The interviewer was obviously not interested, as she was reading the questions off a sheet, and as we answered she simply held a button down on a recorder. She didn't even keep eye contact with us, except to occasionally gaze suggestively at Doug. "Hmm," she said, "and I guess you all have girlfriends?"

The topic was a raw one for me because of previous relationships, and it opened a healing wound. I felt I had to answer. "Tom and Harry do," I said, pointing to them with my thumb, "but Doug and I don't."

"No" Doug added. "We have boyfriends."

Needless to say, the interviewer leaned away from Dougie, cleared her throat and said, "Well that about wraps it up, I think…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Back in our black people carrier, Tom was practically pissing himself laughing. "AHAHAHA, DID YOU SEE HER FACE?! She gave Doug a look as if to say 'WTF?'"

Harry sighed, and rolled his eyes, "yes Tom, we all saw it and this is the SIXTH time you've helped us relive the moment."

"But it was freaking hilarious though," Tom insisted, wiping tears from his eyes. "I think it was because we all knew it was coming, and it was such a shock to her! She didn't realise it was a typical Dougie thing to say!" Then he snorted, and dissolved into waves of giggling once more.

Though I wasn't laughing, I couldn't help but smile. Tom has been a different person since we created Super Records; he's more relaxed. While we were with Island, it seemed like he was under a lot more pressure and that made him uptight. Now, he is the joker of the band; always making us smile and I truly believe that's what helped us write better music. It's true what Tom said in the interview, being in Australia helped us to detach ourselves from the crushing pressure of having to record an album in such a short space of time, and it just felt like we were on holiday.

I looked at Dougie, who smiled and laid his head on the door to try and get some well-deserved sleep.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, counting on his fingers to try and connect the places we still had to go.

Tom had sobered considerably by this point, and answered, "Home, actually. We haven't got another gig until Monday!"

I was elated at this news, today was Friday and that meant I had the whole weekend to sleep. "I bet Doug's gonna piss off with his girlfriend again." I smirked, looking across at the boy pretending to be asleep.

His head didn't move, but he still spoke in a monotonous voice. "I told the lady I didn't have a girlfriend, so why would you assume I have one?" His eyes had been closed as he spoke, but now he glanced sideways at me, one eyebrow arched.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Harry beat me to it. "Doug, you always have a girlfriend!"

"But they don't last long." Tom added, and smirked at Harry.

Dougie snapped then; his face became red with anger and it was like a monster had replaced the boy we all knew and loved. "Shut up Tom! You think you're so great because you've had a girlfriend for like, ever. But you're not! Maybe I like things like this; maybe I like only having a girlfriend for a while, because then I don't fall in so deep I end up getting hurt like Danny. Anyway, I don't have one. I told you."

I was shocked that he used me as a reference, but what he'd said was true. I'd been hurt. "Doug," I said softly, "just ignore them. You can even be gay if you like, we don't mind."

"Maybe I will then." He said seriously, but cracked a smile all the same. And there it was. The smile that still kept me awake at night, the one that I would never get bored of seeing.

Tom turned round in his seat (forgetting conveniently about Doug's outburst) and asked "hey guys, James just texted me. Do you wanna go to his for dinner later?"

I nodded enthusiastically, Dougie replied, "yeah, sure" indifferently and Harry grunted his approval.

We still kept in contact with James; he was the one who'd originally helped Tom to create McFly's first songs. He'd always been a good mate to us, even when both Busted and Son of Dork split and he spiralled into depression. He was writing his own album now, and we were helping him to make the best songs possible. We knew he deserved another shot in the music industry.

"Tomarse?" Dougie asked, grinning insanely, "are you going to be spending the weekend with Gio?" He then winked suggestively at me and nudged his elbow into Tom's ribs by leaning forwards in his seat.

"OUCH! You git." Tom grumbled, whilst rubbing his now bruised side. "You haven't used _that_ nickname in ages. Anyway, if I were staying with Giovanna, would that be any of your business?"

"Yes," Dougie answered automatically, "you must know by know that anything you do is our business." Then he grinned and said, "or any_one_ you do," and began to giggle.

Tom opened his mouth to argue, so I spoke before he could. "What are you doing over the weekend then Harry?"

He shrugged, and then said "I dunno really. Mum said I could go round hers tomorrow and she'd cook me trout for lunch."

Dougie couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the piss. "You're going to have trout with your mum?" He asked in a strange voice, mocking Harry's fortunate background.

Harry looked offended, but laughed and said "well Doug, what does your mum cook you?" Then he noticed Tom trying to hide his laughter and demanded, "what about you then Tom?!"

The aforementioned boy continued to chuckle, but then put on his best 'posh' voice. "Oh I'm sorry Harry," he said with a slight lisp, "my mum doesn't cook me trout."

I swear I nearly pissed myself, but I was trying to laugh quietly so Harry wouldn't hear. Dougie completely threw that idea out of the window when he started to laugh uncontrollably. I tried to shush him but it was unsuccessful as I was laughing just as much.

Tom carried on taking the mick, "I don't have my own river."

"Oh piss off Tom." Harry said exasperatedly, getting annoyed by the constant digs at his home life.

"I have koi carp in the moat outside my house."

That was it for me, I collapsed into fits of hysterical laughter and Doug did the same. Tom cocked his head and smiled innocently at Harry. The older boy finally caved in, grabbed Tom in a headlock and said "I love you guys."

**Y'all review now, y'hear?**

**'Kay, until next time :D  
**

**xxx  
**


	7. Decisions Decisions

**Well HAI.**

**'It's the next chapter at last!!' I hear you cry, and yes, you would be correct. This one is a bit longer than the others, and it's pack with stuuf that'll make you go 0.o and :D and :'(**

**Hehe.  
Without further ado, please enjoy.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Around The Clock, because she keeps me going, so thank you :D. I can't thank the rest of you enough for reviewing, it means LOADS to me because it gives me the will to keep writing. **

**Not sure how many chapters are left, but I can't imagine it'll be very many...**

**Okay, now you can enjoy :P  
**

* * *

The weekend passed without much going on; I literally did sleep most of the time, except for when we all stayed at Dougie's house for an Xbox marathon. Dougie spent most of the time sulking because I beat him at every game of football, but he started to smile again when I promised I'd give him a chance next time.

Pulling up to the arena in our massive tour bus, Tom grabbed his towel and wrapped it across his shoulders. He took a deep breath, and said, "Guys I'm really nervous. This is the first time we've played our new stuff in front of a live audience."

Harry gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "Come on mate, it's just like every other gig we've done. Except now, we can sing songs we actually _like_."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Halfway through the set, I reached down for my water bottle. Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I took a swig and smiled across at Tom. It felt amazing singing brand new stuff to our fans.

"How's everybody doing then?" Tom asked the crowd. They went wild, screams reaching louder than ever. "You all having fun?" The screams and camera flashes continued, and banners were eagerly held up in the air.

Loads of the banners we see are often rude, and we have had the occasional girl flashing her boobs at us. One of my favourite banners I've seen is 'DANNY! FINGER ME LIKE YOUR GUITAR!' I thought it was actually quite clever, and we laughed about that one for years afterwards.

Tom twiddled some knobs on his microphone stand, and adjusted it unnecessarily (this was a nervous tic he'd developed). He looked across and winked at Dougie. "Now guys," he shouted, "I'm going to tell you all a little story. Danny, some music please?"

I began to walk in a lazy circle, playing a tune that was traditional when one of the band members was telling a story to the audience. I shot a questioning look at Tom, wondering what story he would be telling. We hadn't discussed it before the gig, and we usually do.

Tom tapped his nose secretively in reply. "This is a story about two lovers. Earlier this year, we went to Australia to record Radio:ACTIVE. But that's not all that happened. While we were there, two boys realised their love for each other."

The crowd started screaming again, and I laughed nervously. I didn't know where this story was going, but I had a funny idea it would be about me.

"This song is about when Danny and Dougie confessed their undying love. It was written by Danny himself while he was looking at the beautiful Australian sea and thinking how much it reminded him of Dougie."

Dougie leaned into his mike. "It's true!" He said, and grinned widely at me. I decided that I was going to play along too.

Tom finished his story. "It's called Falling in Love."

I ran over to Doug, egged on by the cries of fans. I put my hand over his mouth and kissed the back of my hand. It looked like I'd kissed him full on the lips, and for a second Tom looked shocked. He turned and looked at the big screen, which showed what I'd actually done, and he shook his head slowly. Laughing, he counted us in. "One, two, three, four…"

As we played the song, I realised how much feeling I'd put in to Falling in Love when I wrote it in Australia. Tom's turn to sing came around and I walked away from the mike to watch Harry play. His eyes were shut, and he hit each note with an overwhelming amount of emotion that I couldn't help but smile at. I glanced over at Doug, and he was stood bobbing his head in time with Harry's beat and plucking his bass like the 'jazz-cat' Jason always said he was.

Everyone in the audience was singing along. It was the most amazing thing, because we didn't think anyone would know the words yet. As I looked at the individual faces, I saw pure happiness and excitement. Older and younger, male and female, hyper or more subdued; all were genuinely elated to be there, and they were there to see _us_.

Being all philosophical, I'd nearly missed my cue. As I sang, Tom reprimanded me by throwing his pick at my face. The girls in the front row screamed at the same time, and I winked at them. One looked on the verge of fainting and another burst into tears.

I heard Doug laugh next to me over the roar of our instruments, and I made eye contact with him for what felt like the hundredth time that show. However, this time something clicked. I wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed like in that moment, Dougie was glowing. Then, I was falling off the edge of the stage. I felt the back of my head collide with something hard, and I blacked out…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

My eyes felt heavy even as I opened them, and they felt crusty and gross from being asleep for… wait, how long had I been out?

"DANNY'S AWAKE, DANNY'S AWAKE!!" I heard from across the room and getting gradually louder as something thundered its way over to me.

I groaned, and then I heard another fuzzy voice. "Dougie, shut up! He's just woken up you idiot, don't be so loud." I raised my hand to my head with my vision still out of focus. I didn't know where the hell I was, but it wasn't a hospital because it didn't smell funny.

I swallowed, and my throat felt like it had been attacked by razorblades. Then I said in a croaky voice, "Dougie?"

Something flopped onto the bed, and as my vision became clearer I realised it was the boy I'd asked for. I was in my own bed (thank goodness), and both Tom and Harry were stood in the doorway looking concerned. "Hey Dan," Dougie said softly. "How do you feel?"

I grinned, which painfully split my dry lips. "How do you think I feel?"

"Okay, sorry, standard question. Do you remember what happened?" He asked, giving me the look that a mother gives to her child in a hospital bed.

My response died in my throat as I realised that in fact, I had no recollection of what had happened. "…No. The last thing I remember is being at a gig."

"Well, yeah it actually happened at that gig. You see, you just kinda fell off the stage and hit your head pretty hard on the floor. There were masses of security guys trying to hold these crazed fans back and there was loads of screaming. We were shit scared, you know? We had a doctor backstage and he said you were concussed, and we brought you back home to get some rest."

I stuttered. "Wh… I… I didn't go to hospital?"

Dougie giggled, which pissed me off slightly, but any bad feelings washed away with his smile. "Nah, the doc said you'd be fine in a day or so," he said, and started to stroke my forehead and hairline with one hand. Then he twirled his fingers in my hair gently, and I thought I'd probably go back to sleep. "I'm glad you're okay Dan." He said much more quietly than before, and I realised this was probably because he didn't want Harry and Tom to hear.

I closed my eyes and smiled. "Of course I'm okay. This is _me_ we're talking about here."

"I know, but you could have been really badly hurt. Then I would have felt so damn guilty."

Opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish, I obviously looked as confused as I felt. Why would Dougie feel guilty when I fell off the stage due to my renowned clumsiness? When I posed this question to him, he raised one eyebrow sceptically.

"Danny mate, you were looking at me. That's why you fell off the stage. Don't think I didn't realise." He said all this quietly, and was tracing patterns on my forearm as he spoke.

This hit me like a brick wall in the face. I vaguely remembered watching Dougie laughing and then… then nothing. Mentally slapping myself for my utter stupidity I sent my friend an apologetic look.

Dougie waved this away like an annoying fly. "Don't worry, I can't help being beautiful…"

At this point, Harry became suddenly interested in our conversation. "Soooo Dan, you won't be playing tonight will you?"

I sat up rapidly, and then wished I hadn't. My head span and felt like it was going to split as I said, "there is no way I'm staying here while you guys play a show. No way in hell."

Tom tried to soothe me by shushing and pushing me gently back down on the bed. "Dan, we wouldn't play a show without you. We'd just have to cancel, that's all."

"WHAT? You can't cancel! I'm going, and there's nothing you can say to stop me, okay?"

The blonde swished his new long hair out of his eyes, and gave me a look that mothers give their children when they do something they don't approve of. "I'm not happy about it," he said firmly, "but get some sleep now, so you're well-rested for later."

I smiled softly, trying not to strain my headache any further. "Thanks Tom, I'll do that."

"Well guys, I'm going home. Danny, make sure you get some sleep and I'll see you later." Tom said, and pointed at me with an authority to match that of a god.

"Ooh, wait up!" Harry said, "I left my oven on!"

Harry legged it out of the room and slammed the door. I chuckled quietly to myself, and realised that Dougie was still sat beside my bed. He was deathly quiet. Despite the fact that five years have passed, he still finds it uncomfortable to be left alone in the same room as me. We're best mates, no doubt about that, but some things come back and bite you in the arse, even years later. Adopting a goofy smile, Dougie decided to break the tension.

"I'm gonna go too. I need to pack some stuff for later, but I'll be back to help you pack yours, okay?"

I grinned at him lopsidedly. "Dougie, I have a headache. I haven't been paralyzed."

"Well excuse me for trying to help!" He said with a mock-offended tone. He then pretended to cry, and walked out of the door with one hand over his face. Unfortunately, he managed to hit his head on the door frame on the way out.

I burst out laughing, which made my headache ten times worse and I also started to cough loudly. This didn't help my sore throat.

My coughing fit subsided, and Dougie staggered back into the room cradling his skull. "Oww, shit. Danny, can I share your bed please seeing as I have a headache too now?"

He was stood there looking like such a plum that I couldn't say no. There was no harm in sharing your bed with your best mate, right? "Okay," I said, and rolled my eyes. "But don't try anything funny or I'll kick you straight out."

He looked shocked, but this was also pretend. I could tell; he's such a crap actor. "Me? Try anything funny? How dare you even suggest it?"

As he climbed in, I felt my face burn and so I turned over to face the other way.

"Daaaaaanny, why are you facing away from me?" Dougie whined, and I could just imagine him pouting. He poked me in the side which tickled, and I flipped back over to find my face inches from his.

It felt so startlingly familiar, but at the same time I knew it was wrong. We'd buried this, five years ago now. As I looked into his eyes, I didn't feel in a rush to lean in and kiss him, I just felt happy knowing he was there. I was still blushing, all the same.

"Daniel Jones, you are not blushing?!" He said, as if he couldn't believe it. "The last time you did that was…" and his eyes widened in realisation. "…Five years ago."

He threw the covers back and tried to jump out of bed. I was too quick however, and I pulled him back; a vice-like grip on his forearm. "Dougie Poynter, don't you dare leave. If you're going to leave, don't bother coming back."

Reluctantly, Doug clambered in next to me but then yanked the duvet over his head.

He stayed like that for a little while, but then decided to peek out from the corner. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he shuffled to face me again. "I'm sorry," he said, "it just freaked me out even though we… um… left that phase behind us."

It stung me when he used the word 'phase' because in my heart I believed it truly wasn't. The love I had for Dougie felt as strong as the love I'd felt for anyone else. To this day, in fact, I don't think I've loved anybody more. The younger boy next to me must have seen the hurt in my eyes.

"…It was a phase, wasn't it Danny?"

I stayed silent, but the question carried so much weight, and would inevitably lead to more questions. I threw the duvet back, exposing both of us and I walked out of the room.

"Danny? DANNY? DANNY, HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND YOU WHEN YOU KEEP RUNNING AWAY FROM THIS?" Dougie shouted, his voice cracking with the strain of shouting so loudly.

It was hard to ignore him, and I kept walking until I'd reached the front door. My head rested against the woodwork, and I could still hear Doug's cries from my room.

"YOU ARE SUCH A TWAT! I… I don't know how I ever loved you." He finished quietly, probably believing that I had left already.

I smashed on the door with the flat of my palm. The burden was becoming too much to bear. There were so many things churning in my mind. Was I only acting this way because I still felt something for Dougie? Or was I just being defensive about my past?

"Danny," he said, quieter still this time. I had to strain myself to hear him. "I know you're still there. I know you're finding this difficult, but guess what? It's difficult for me too."

Silence reigned as I debated whether to go back or not.

"You know what? I don't give a crap if you don't come back. I just need you to know that when you left me alone in that kitchen five years ago, I regretted what I said. I so wanted you to come back and tell me it was okay, but that was never going to happen, was it?"

I knew exactly what to do then. Without saying a word, I strode back into the bedroom and pulled Dougie up out of bed by his t-shirt. Sliding one of my arms around his waist, and the other holding his head, I kissed him. It felt so right, the way he just fit with my body.

It was my way of telling him everything was going to be okay, and I owed him this, I realised, for five years.

As he moaned quietly into my mouth, it hit me that I owed this to myself as well as him.

* * *

**YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!!**

**Cheers guys :)**

**xxxx  
**


	8. Judgement Day

**Hello my children :D**

**It must seem like AGES since I posted the last chapter of this, and I really am sorry because it HAS been ages :P  
**

**Honestly, I lost inspiration, until I got a PM from AroundTheClock encouraging me to write this chapter. You have her to thank, and I do too, because otherwise I doubt this would have ever been written :)**

**Thank you sweetie :D**

**Alas, the time has come. This _is_ the final chapter, because I believe I found a nice place to finish x3**

**As McFly said, _"The time has come to say goodbye... (etc)... this is the end, but baby don't you cry."_ You guys know there'll be more fics, so don't fret.  
But for now, enjoy this one!**

**THANK YOU ALL!!! (Lulz that's in the same song XD)  
I love you guys, I really do, and thank you for giving me your time for this fic :'D  
**

* * *

I pulled away from Dougie's lips with a kind of regret. They were so soft, and I already began to feel some withdrawal symptoms from not being attached to him. The look on his face told me he wanted the contact back too, but then he grinned beautifully and it made me the happiest man alive.

"This is so weird," he giggled. "We're guys!"

I smirked and pulled his waist even closer. "I know, but I'm enjoying this far more than I would with a girl."

He appreciated my gesture and wrapped his own arms around my chest. He leaned his head just on my neck and said, "you need to be getting some rest silly. Tom's gonna get well angry otherwise and not let you play tonight."

The look on his face reminded me of a puppy, and I felt so bad. "Okay then. You head back and I'll see you later." I said with a smile, and kissed him gently on the nose.

A shocked expression now graced the gorgeous features, but then a soft smile that lit up the room. "Danny..?" He said, making full eye contact.

"Yeah Doug?"

"I love you." His eyes stayed connected with mine, and he looked completely serious.

One of my hands worked its way up from Dougie's waist to his face, where it delicately brushed a cheek and a slight dimple when he smiled from the action. I looked down at him. "You know what? I love you too. I really, really do."

Looking incredibly happy with himself, Dougie bounced off and nearly hit himself on the doorframe. He turned back, pulled a funny face as if to say 'how silly of me', and continued on his journey. I love that boy.

A few minutes later, I was playing my guitar when Tom came into my flat. He pushed open the bedroom door ever so slowly, expecting to find me asleep. I was glad he didn't come a few minutes earlier; I don't think Doug or I are ready to tell anyone just yet.

"DANNY JONES, THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE RESTING!" He shrieked, looking completely outraged that I wasn't taking the opportunity to sleep. He pointed to the bed, ignoring my initial look of surprise that was still plastered on my face. "GET. IN. BED. NOW."

"…But…"

"NOW DANNY. Or I won't let you play tonight. It's that simple."

It was so amusing; he sounded like an angry parent. I took one look at his red face and burst into a fit of hysteric laughter. It just made my head pound more than it already was, but it was so worth it. The corner of Tom's mouth began to twitch- I knew he was trying his best not to laugh but failing miserably.

"You think I'm joking Danny? I'm not joking. If you're not in a fit state, I won't let you play. And if you don't play, we don't play and I'll have to cancel the gig and say it's your fault. Capische?"

I stopped laughing and read the premature age lines in his face. He wasn't joking. "Okay I'll go to sleep. But I'm not tired, I swear."

"Come on Dan." Tom lifted the corner of my duvet and I clambered in bed, fully clothed. As soon as my head hit the pillow my thoughts clouded and I realised just how tired I actually was. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tom grin. Then he went out of the room, and the door sounded muffled as it shut. I must have gone to sleep pretty soon after that, because I never had any conscious thought until I woke up later that afternoon.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I awoke to find Dougie perched on the end of my bed, looking at the ceiling. It appeared he had been waiting for me to wake up, so I shuffled purposefully to let him know I was now conscious.

"Hello sleepy! You ready to play tonight?" Dougie asked, and he pulled himself closer to me.

I actually did feel a lot better after my sleep, and that awful headache had finally gone. I leapt out of bed and hugged Dougie lovingly before finding some tour-appropriate clothes to dump on the bus. "Damn right I'm ready!"

And you know what? I felt more ready than I ever had done. That's probably because Dougie didn't know what I had planned for that very evening.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I was sat in a chair in my dressing room, facing a wide mirror surrounded by light bulbs. One of them flickered, and it was really pissing me off. The woman styling my hair remained nameless, and that's how I wanted it to stay. It didn't help though, that she was chatting in my ear while I was trying to think about what I had to do later on.

"…So like I say, my daughter's a _really_ big fan of yours, and it would make her _life_ if you could just talk to her for a little while." As she spoke, she emphatically pulled my hair about and twisted each individual curl to cover my forehead.

I drummed my fingers on the table in front of me, and pretended not to hear.

"…Danny?" She was leaning in closer, close enough so that one of her huge boobs brushed my shoulder. It wasn't that I was ungrateful for her daughter being a fan, I mean, I love to do anything for fans but this woman was pushing it too far. Not only that, but we don't have time to meet people other than competition winners. I didn't really feel like explaining that to her.

"Sorry, I'm really tired." I said, by way of apology.

"That's completely understandable; you took a really bad blow to the head the other night!" She said it like I didn't know.

Thing is, she was actually doing a really good job of my hair so I didn't want to get rid of her. I just couldn't wait to get on stage, where I was untouchable.

"There you go honey, you're all done!" It felt like I'd been there an hour, but I looked at the clock and it had only been ten minutes. "Now, remember what I said about my daughter!" She added, and I smiled.

"Of course," I said sincerely and smiled at her this time. As I walked out of the room, I saw her blush and fan herself with a make-up brush. I still forget I have that effect on women, even though I'm gay.

I knocked on the door of Harry's dressing room, and I went inside to find all the guys in there playing the X-Box. It was unusual for Tom to be playing it, but I grabbed a controller and joined in. I don't think they even noticed I was there until I beat them all by a mile.

"Oh, hey Danny." Tom said, still engrossed in the telly screen. "How long until we go on stage?"

I tried to make eye-contact, but he was so close to the screen that the light must have been giving him a tan. I decided to play a little trick.

"Oh, you know, about…" I looked at the clock, "…eight minutes?" I smirked, but thankfully no one saw.

Tom dropped the controller but his face remained the same. Then his jaw dropped almost as far as the controller had, and he jumped to his feet. "SHIT! WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?" He proceeded to flap his hands, and I mean actually flap. Harry snorted in laughter as Tom legged it out of the room, and Dougie rolled over onto his back and burst out laughing just as much.

We could hear doors slamming all the way down the corridor as Tom went to check our instruments for the last time, and then the slamming doors came back towards us as he realised he'd been fooled.

The door burst open, and Tom's face was the same colour as his cherry red Flying-V. He spoke quietly and dangerously. "Isn't this interesting Danny? I went to do a final check, and one of the sound managers told me we still have another hour until we go on stage."

I stared at him, and grinned slowly. Tom didn't grin back.

"Oh man, you're so gonna pay for that." Then he leapt at me and pinned me to the floor. Echoes of our auditions for a drummer pulsed through my head and I couldn't help but smile. It occurred to Tom as well, and he laughed. He flopped on top of me, and Dougie's expression grew darker. I winked reassuringly at my boyfriend and he beamed happily. Climbing off me, Tom said, "We're never gonna grow up, are we?"

"Not as long as we keep winding each other up," I said, and switched the X-Box off. "Come on guys, we really do need to get ready now."

We all got changed pretty quickly apart from Tom. "Which t-shirt shall I wear?" He asked, holding up two for us to see. "Star Wars or Ghostbusters?"

Harry sighed, and threw a drumstick at the blond. "Just bloody get dressed, before I come over there and dress you myself. We've got more to worry about than how nerdy Thomas Fletcher is feeling today."

Dougie leaned across to Tom and whispered, "I think the Star Wars one." Tom nodded gratefully and skulked back to his dressing room.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was almost that time in the set for Falling In Love once again, and the butterflies had well and truly settled in my stomach.

Tom leaned down for his water bottle and winked at me. That wink meant he would be telling mine and Dougie's 'love story' once again, and I was glad. That's exactly what I had been planning.

The screaming of the audience seemed to blur together in my mind, and as Tom began to tell the story, I zoned out. All I could hear was my guitar playing a gentle tune, and all I could see was Dougie's unsuspecting face. I smiled at him, and he grinned back. I heard a few solitary screams from the crowd, and I knew there were some girls who could see the chemistry between us.

Tom's story was nearing the end. I took a deep breath and waited for my cue.

"…Those two lovers were Danny and Dougie. This is their song, and it's called Falling In Love."

I strode over to Dougie, and instead of first placing my hand over his mouth, I just kissed him firmly on the lips. One of my hands found its way to the back of his head, and the other wrapped around waist. Initially there was silence. I couldn't believe it; for the first time, there was silence in that massive arena.

Finally, I heard one squeal of delight, and I saw about a million camera flashes through my closed eyes. Dougie responded, and slipped his tongue in between my lips. I was so close to saying fuck it to the concert and dragging him into the nearest isolated room, but my senses returned and I pulled away.

I looked round, and several of the girls near the front had fainted. Most were crying, and even Tom had tears welling in his eyes. Harry had dropped both drumsticks and was simply staring in shock. I grinned happily and pulled Dougie into a reassuring hug, and he gripped tighter than ever before.

As I was hugging him, I felt his little body shudder. I pushed him back and saw he was crying hard. At the same time though, he was smiling broadly. "What's wrong?" I asked, and he laughed through tears at the concern on my face.

"I'm so happy Danny. I swear I've never been happier." All at once I felt a rush of love for him stronger than I'd ever felt before. It flooded into my stomach and overtook my whole body, and I immediately felt I was just living for him. Nobody else would ever be as important, and I started crying too.

He hugged me, and then someone else did too. Finally another pair of hands gripped me tightly and I realised it was Tom and Harry. They were sobbing just as hard, and Tom said to us, "You guys are so stupid," whilst brushing tears from his cheeks.

"Why's that?" I sniffled, and he laughed.

"You left your microphone on." I glanced at the audience and thousands of girls were crying on each others' shoulders. Some from happiness, but others from the realisation that their idols and 'future husbands' were gay.

After that, the show happened to be the best I've ever played, even to this day. We had connected with the crowd, and we had connected with each other on a much higher level than we'd ever done, and it showed. When the final note had been played, we dumped our instruments and bowed, before strolling off the stage. On the way, we threw our towels and plectrums into the sea of screaming girls.

I wound my arm round Dougie's waist, and pulled him towards me protectively. Then I planted a gentle kiss on the side of head. This gained a few last screams from the front of the audience as they saw us walk hand in hand out of sight.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Another interview. Except this time, the sun was streaming in through a large window, and I was safely linked with Dougie's. His fingers sat comfortably in mine, and he gazed off into the distance while Tom and I dealt with the more technical questions.

The girl asking us the questions was a pretty brunette, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Harry eyeing her up. She subconsciously flirted with him, catching his eye every now and then and smiling gorgeously.

Her eye caught mine, and she smiled in a different way; motioning to mine and Dougie's interlinked hands. I could see she was keen to talk about the subject, but she had other questions to ask first. She switched her attention to Tom once again, and asked, "So Tom, with Super Records don't you have the potential to keep going for as long as you want?"

Tom sat up, and pulled his trousers slightly. He did that when he was thinking. "Yeah of course; well, that's what we're hoping anyway. We have nobody to tell us what to do, and you know, nobody can sack us either!"

She giggled, and once again glanced across to Harry. He winked at her, and she blushed furiously. Once she realised we were waiting for her to ask another question, she cleared her throat and diverted her attention fully to Dougie and I.

Smiling sweetly at Dougie, she asked him, "You really love him, huh?"

"Yup." He replied simply, looking up at me with a dazed sort of grin.

She grinned again, and nearly squealed with the excitement. From behind the camera, her boss gave her the evils, and so she cleared her throat once again. Now facing me, she asked a new question. "Danny, how did you come to love Dougie?"

I put my arm fully around my boyfriend's shoulders, and kissed him delicately on the temple. Tom and Harry both leaned forward, as they themselves weren't even sure of where the whole love affair had come from. Knowing I had the whole room's full attention, I replied with a smile, "You know what? It all started with an audition…"

* * *

***Sniff***

**Once again, THANK YOU! And please give me a final review :) **

**Till next time ;D  
**

**xxxx  
**


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